It's the premier sports rivalry in the state of Wisconsin, but then again what else is there? Stout and River Falls? Onalaska and Tomah? Fondy and Neenah? Nope. Basically, the college hoops rivalry between Wisconsin and Marquette is really as this state has when it comes to heated inter-state battles.

Which, is fine with me. I could not imagine living in a city that was home to the time I love as well as the team I hate. I had a hard time understanding why those people that lived in Chicago also hated the Cubs. Until I realized that Cubs fans were d-bags, of course.

That being said, I always have and always will side with Wisconsin in this rivalry. Wisconsin has been my team forever, and I really didn't even know Marquette existed until Aaron Hutchins entered my life in the mid-90s. Still, I've always had it out for private schools, so my loyalty stayed with the Badgers.

That has since changed, for various reasons. First, when someone from your high school (Travis Diener) excels at a college and then goes to the NBA, you tend to start rooting for him and his Alma-mater. Secondly, I cover Marquette (sometimes) as part of this blog, and there's no sense in rooting against the team you follow.

So the match-up is just hours away, and you can catch it tonight at 8:30 on ESPNU. If you don't get the ESPN offspring, you can come over to my (parent's) place. And as always, Sports Bubbler has some pretty good content regarding the match-up tonight. Greg Matzek breaks down which team has the advantage in tonight's game, while Dan Walsh tries to figure out which school this game means more to.